Qatar- Shura Council for quick action on traffic jams

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) The Advisory Council has sought quicker action to address traffic jams in the city and recommended a series of measures including a review of the current policy on issuing drivers' licences to expatriates.

The State Cabinet, responding to a recommendation of the Advisory Council, has asked the National Committee for Traffic Safety to submit the findings of its study on traffic congestions to the Cabinet in three months

In June last year, the Cabinet had referred the issue to the Advisory Council for its opinion, along with the recommendations submitted to the National Committee for Traffic Safety by the different bodies concerned. The Council has now advised the Cabinet to obtain the committee's report in two months, Al Sharq reports

The services and facilities committee of the Advisory Council studied the issue and gave its recommendations. As a solution to the traffic bottlenecks in the city, the committee has recommended to build more multi-storey parking facilities, review the policy on issuance of driver's licence to expatriates and promote public transport to reduce the number of private cars

The committee also recommended to redistribute the commercial facilities to reduce the crowding and congestion in certain parts of the city and encourage more schools to use buses to transport students.

The Council panel felt that there should be an effective solution to the problem of diversions and alternative roads during road constructions. Companies should be forced to provide buses to transport groups of workers

The opinion of Qatari Engineers Association on road designs should be taken into account, while seeking solution to the problem, said the committee. Entry and exit points at some highways should be redesigned to address congestions and the geographical distribution of roads has to be reviewed

The government had set up a special committee to find quick solution to traffic jams and the committee identified 138 traffic hot-spots across the city. The committee linked the traffic congestions to the increasing number of population as well as vehicles, existence of many roundabouts and similar working hours for different ministries and government departments in the same area

The Ministry of Interior took several measures to address the issue such as deploying police patrol at traffic hot-spots, opening side roads at several roundabouts and intersections, and banning some segments of expatriates from obtaining a driver's licence. More radars and surveillance cameras have been installed on major highways to tackle speeding and minimise accidents